Author: staff
As music lovers gear up for the much-anticipated Eurovision 2026 final this Saturday night, several people use the opportunity to turn the event into a shared night out, rather than staying home to watch TV. In the UK, this has led to a surge in demand for communal watch-party venues, such as screening rooms, cinemas and live music venues. Enquiries for these locations jumped 73% on an annual basis in the run up to the final, according to Tagvenue, mainly led by London, Manchester and Birmingham. However, this phenomena is becoming more common across continental Europe as well, with several…
American and Nigerian forces killed a leader of the Islamic State group in Nigeria in a joint operation carried out Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump said early Saturday. “Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, second in command of ISIS globally, thought he could hide in Africa, but little did he know we had sources who kept us informed on what he was doing,” Trump said a social media post that offered few details. Al-Mainuki was viewed as the key figure in Islamic State organizing and finance, and had been plotting attacks against the United States and its interests, the Associated Press reported, citing an unnamed official. “He will…
The march, and a pro-Palestinian demonstration expected to take place at the same time, drew intensive police planning, with 4,000 officers, armored vehicles, helicopters, drones and for the first time facial recognition technology deployed to keep order in the capital. Nationally, Robinson is seen negatively by 47 percent of adults across all voter groups, compared to 17 percent who have a positive opinion of him. But the poll shows the extent to which Reform’s backers are sympathetic to the most extreme end of activism on the right. With Reform now consistently topping opinion polls — and winning elections across the country…
Sheinbaum’s predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, demanded an apology from Spain for human rights violations committed during that era. In 2024, the current president did not invite King Felipe to her inauguration, saying neither he nor the Spanish government had responded to the request. However, comments last October by the Spanish foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, acknowledging there had been “pain and injustice” in the two countries’ shared history, appeared to improve relations. The king went further in March, when he told the Mexican ambassador in Spain that there had been “a lot of abuse” during the conquest, which “cannot…
Good morning from Brussels. This is Maïa de la Baume and Angela Skujins, writing Friday’s newsletter from the Belgian capital, where EU officials have already slipped into long-weekend mode. Just in: Latvia’s former defence minister Andris Sprūds, who resigned on Sunday, told the Europe Today programme that he had “always said that it is difficult to deal with drones which have lost their trajectory.” Sprūds is at the center of a political firestorm that brought down Latvia’s Prime Minister Evika Siliņa on Thursday, following a coalition collapse over a drone-related security dispute near the Russian border. Reminder : Last Thursday,…
Spain’s Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun has accused Eurovision organisers of using culture to “whitewash” the war in Gaza, sharply criticizing the European Broadcasting Union’s decision to allow Israel to participate in the contest. “The decision I would criticise, which I think is wrong, is the decision of the EBU board to allow Israel to participate,” Urtasun said in an interview with Euronews flagship programme Europe Today. “This is what is wrong from the beginning.” The minister rejected the idea that the music itself was causing division around this year’s contest, arguing instead that controversy stemmed from Israel’s inclusion amid the…
By Inês Trindade Pereira & video by Léa Becquet Published on 15/05/2026 – 10:23 GMT+2•Updated 10:40 Germany was the world’s largest exporter of plastic waste in 2025, sending 810,000 tonnes overseas, according to a new study. It was followed by the UK, which exported 675,000 tonnes abroad, said the report, which was carried out by journalists at Watershed Investigations and the environmental NGO Basel Action Network (BAN) for British news outlet The Guardian. It’s the country’s highest level in eight years and produced enough to fill about 127,000 shipping containers. Meanwhile, at an EU level, the bloc exported 1.5 billion kg/year in 2025,…
Lebanon and Israel on Friday agreed to extend their ceasefire by 45 days, even as a fresh escalation of violence erupted, the US State Department said following mediated talks. “The April 16 cessation of hostilities will be extended by 45 days to enable further progress,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said. He added that the State Department will hold negotiations on 2 and 3 June aimed at reaching a lasting political agreement, while the Pentagon will convene military delegations from both countries on 29 May. “We hope these discussions will advance lasting peace between the two countries, full recognition of…
The push would also accelerate work on a so-called overcapacity instrument to deal with state-subsidized firms producing vast quantities of goods in strategic sectors, making it virtually impossible for other industries to compete. Such a mechanism has been under discussion for some time, but is perceived as risky as it would likely run afoul of World Trade Organization rules, which generally bar members from discriminating against single countries. According to two EU officials working on the proposals, granted anonymity to speak frankly, the plans will first be discussed and refined by commissioners at an “orientation debate” on May 29. EU…
Published on 15/05/2026 – 11:40 GMT+2 German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Thursday that joint debt was not an option to finance the European economy, speaking at a ceremony awarding former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi the Charlemagne Prize. In his speech at Aachen Cathedral, Merz echoed Draghi’s call to boost European competitiveness, but differences remain over how to finance it. “Some now believe we can evade this painful task by taking on new debt, European debt, by financing regular spending through debt. Germany cannot follow this path for constitutional reasons alone, and, ladies and gentlemen, we also need…